Cosmetics review practice

Since I want to get into doing makeup reviews, I figured I'd start messing around with them on here and then maybe get a separate blog for them. Or maybe not. Anyway, I definitely buy/receive/get gifted enough makeup that some nifty reviews might be worthwhile. SO.

I have to admit, I got Metal Orchestra because it was on sale at Sephora. I had no idea what the quality was going to be like, though it looked nice online - and this is why I like Ulta and the makeup shop in the mall better. Pre-purchase swatches, yay.

So, this is what it looks like on the outside:

...crappy picture. It came in a cardboard sleeve, with a nice solid plastic container inside that. The inside looks like this:

The top half of the box is a mirror, pretty standard with every palette I've ever bought.

From left to right, the colors are: First Class, Techno, Thrasher, Dagger, Lucifer, Glock, Razor Gray, and Slayer. The palette also comes with two tiny, useless brushes. I haven't thrown them out yet because I use them to dab glue onto art projects.

Anyway, I'll start by saying that Slayer, the silver cream shadow, is also useless. Even when I first got it, it had solidified into this shiny rectangle of doom. I've tried adding every possible kind of liquid to loosen it up, and nothing. It's a shame, because what little I can rub onto my finger looks like a nice silver plate effect on my skin. I can only assume that the rest of the Kat Von D palettes' cream shadows are just as frustrating.

On the other hand, at the other end of the box is First Class. It's a lovely, cream-colored shimmer shadow that works great as a highlight color at the inside corners of my eyes. It's just shimmery, not glittery, so I've had no problems with fallout. This and the black are the shadows I've used the most from this palette.

One note: First Class is really bold for a highlight color, so if you're looking for a true neutral, this probably isn't it. However, it complements the darker shades in the box nicely.

Techno and Dagger (the second and the fourth from the left) are, respectively, a medium blue with blue and silver glitter, and a black with blue and black glitter. I like Techno, but not for the glitter. Every eyeshadow I've seen with this type of sparkle to it leaves tons of fallout, and these two are no exception. The reason I use Techno is because of the base color, which is all that's left once the glitter rains all over my face.

Dagger, on the other hand, simply becomes a slightly bluish-black matte shade, and after a couple hours (even with UD's Primer Potion under it) it's not so different from my other blacks that I would ever bother buying it to supplement them. The one thing I've found that does hold the glitter on better is Fyrinnae's Pixie Epoxy... and Fyrinnae is currently closed for business while they work on backed-up orders.

Third from the left, on the other hand, is Thrasher. This shadow is a medium-dark blue with a light shimmer to it, just like First Class. Frankly, I love this blue. It's a touch darker than any of the other medium blues I have, so it's perfect if I want to do a blue smoky eye. It's highly pigmented, so even though I use it all the time, I'm nowhere close to running out. This, First Class, and the grays definitely made this box a worthwhile buy.

The next shadow is Lucifer, the basic matte black. This is very comparable to Urban Decay's Perversion, which is included with all their shadow boxes. It's an intense black, silky to the touch, great for smoky eyes or for use as liner.

Glock and Razor Gray, the, uh, grays, obviously, both share the subtle shimmer I like so well in some of the other shades. Glock is the darker of the two and Razor Gray is the lighter, and Razor is also slightly warmer in tone. They're a bit like twin brothers in my head (what isn't?) because they go well together, they're both worth having, and even on their own they're gorgeous.

Overall, this palette doesn't have as much variety as sampler-type shadow boxes, but that's because the shades are meant to be coordinated. It's like one of those Cover Girl smoky eye sets they advertise on TV, on steroids. A lot more expensive than those, but worth the price if you often do smoky eyes, because you need waaaaaaaaaay less of each shadow to make it show up. Some of the Kat Von D palettes, including this one, were on sale on Sephora again last time I looked, and for the $24 I paid for it, it was a great buy.

I didn't include my Fyrinnae shadows on this list because, as mentioned above, their site is closed to orders right now, and that would just be frustrating for everyone. If they open again, though, I really want to rave about their stuff.